An Irish drug dealer arrested with €2000 worth of Cannabis in his car has apparently lost £46 million in Bitcoin after being sentenced to 5 years in the slammer. Pretty bloody stupid if the story is accurate.
According to the Guardian, the perp in question, Clifton Collins, was busted by the police with a smaller amount of marijuana in his possession but the infraction sent him away for 5 years. In his absence, his landlord emptied the contents of his flat – including the keys to his Bitcoin accounts that reportedly were worth £46 million.
The alleged drug dealer, who lived in Farnaught, Cornamona, County Galway, is said to have written down the information on a piece of paper and placed it in an aluminum cap of a fishing rod case. Now all lost.
As the story goes, Collins rented flats around Ireland to grow weed and then sell it in Ireland. Collins, in the drug business since 2005, made an astute decision to purchase Bitcoin beginning in 2011 when it was valued at about $5. Today, Bitcoin is trading at around $10,o00.
Perhaps the biggest loser may be the Irish authorities as the crypto assets may have been subject to confiscation as ill-gotten gains.
Of course, the whole story poses the question: If you are worth £46 million why do you need to sell drugs at all? Why not go to some beach and live off these outsized capital gains? Really?
If there is a stupidity award somewhere, Collins should be in the running. You may be able to find him digging through a dump in County Galway.